Korean chip stocks slide as Hynix trades below IPO amid China competition fears

South Korean chip shares fell sharply as AI-infrastructure spending concerns and rising competition from China weighed on sentiment, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix dropping up to about 9%–11%. SK Hynix’s U.S.-listed price closed around $143.02, below its $149 IPO price, while the benchmark KOSPI slid about 8% as investors awaited earnings reports. Analysts pointed to doubts about Chinese memory makers expanding capacity and a shift in AI-chip demand, with CXMT’s strong debut and Nvidia/OpenAI funding chatter adding to memory and AI-chips fears.